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Friday, January 29, 2016

Movie Review: Terminator Genisys

Cons: Confusing story that negates much of the franchise and
leaves some major questions

The Bottom Line:

Another sequel

Nothing truly new to say

Easy to skip it

“Time Travel Makes My Head Hurt.”

I spent last summer watching the Terminator movies for the
first time, fully intending to finish off the run by watching Terminator Genisys, the sequel/reboot
that launched into theater this summer.
I didn’t wind up making it to the theater to see it, but that might have
been a good thing in this case.

The movie starts off in the not so distant future as humans
are finally about to win the war on the machines. However, that means that the machines are
about to send the terminator back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor. So her son, John Connor (Jason Clarke)
prepares to send his friend Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back in time to protect
Sarah (Emilia Clarke).

As any fan of the franchise knows, that’s exactly the
premise of the first film. And there are
some nice nods to that original movie in the early scenes when Kyle
arrives. However, he quickly determines
that there is a T-1000 Terminator (Byung-hun Lee) also running around in the
past and in fact it is Sarah who saves Kyle.
She is working with her Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a reprogrammed
terminator who came back to save her even earlier in her life. But when it is determined that they might be
able to stop this madness once and for all by traveling to 2017, the sparks
really begin to fly. Can they agree on
the plan? Will they be able to save the
day?

There is a reason I pulled the particular quote from the
movie as the title of this film. Yes,
time travel makes the head hurt of anyone who tries to think about the plot of
a movie like this logically. We are set
up with alternative time lines and we just have to accept what they are telling
us. I think there are probably a plot whole
or two big enough to drive a school bus through, but I decided to just go with
it.

Unfortunately, that’s not the biggest problem with the
film. This is now the fifth film in the
franchise, and we are still seeing the exact same story unfold. Oh, there are variations on the theme, but
essentially, this is the same story told again and again. I know, sequels are never completely original,
but this franchise is one of the worst about it.

And that’s not to mention the twist in the film that pretty
much negates everything we’ve been trying to accomplish in the franchise. I know they were going for different and
shocking, but I just didn’t like it.

Then there’s the fact that they left a huge question
hanging. I’m sure they intend to address
that in any sequels planned for this film.
If this were a normal franchise, I might let that slide like I did with
the recent Star Wars film, but let’s think about it for a moment. This is only the fifth Terminator film and
the first came out in 1984. Furthermore,
the last film was supposed to be the start of a new trilogy, but it got abandoned
in favor of this reboot. So how are we
supposed to trust them to come back and answer these questions?

Then there’s the acting, which is passable at best. No, I’ve never expected anything outstanding
from this franchise, but this one seems especially weak in that department.

Of course, if you are watching this film for the action, you
will be highly rewarded. There are
several wonderful action sequences that will leave you on the edge of your
seat. Going along with that, the special
effects are outstanding.

But that’s pretty much the only reason to watch the
film. The story barely holds the action
together and it will leave fans of the franchise who are looking for any kind
of decent story frustrated. Terminator Genisysis by far the weakest
film in the series to date.

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I'm an accountant by trade but a reviewer at heart. Top reviewer at Amazon. Love to read, watch TV and movies, and listen to music. And I'm always looking to share and discuss what I am currently consuming.

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